Week Six Notes

1. BYU beat Utah State by a lowly 20-point margin (34-14), and now all Cougar fans are freaking out that this team shouldn't be in the Top 10 of the national rankings. My take is who cares? BYU led 34-0 in the fourth quarter. As far as I'm concerned, anything that happens after that is mostly irrelevant. Yeah, BYU's subs should have still prevented the Agriculturalists from scoring 14 points, but none of this will be remembered after the next game is played.

2. BYU's next game is in Lavell Edwards Stadium against Los Lobos de Mexico Nueva. My Spanish might be off, so I hope I don't offend anyone. I don't think this game will be close. BYU will be fired up by Bronco Mendenhall, the game is at home, and New Mexico's starting quarterback is out for the year. My Prediction: BYU 45, New Mexico 7.

3. Utah, meanwhile, won a Thursday night thriller over Oregon State, 31-28. Brian Johnson rallied the boys to 11 points in the last two minutes or so to steal the victory at home. I watched the game at my parents'-in-law house, and had a fun time. I think Utah is the real deal. Like every team, they have weaker spots, but I don't see the Utes losing before November 22. This week, they travel to the fabled town of Laramie. I was telling a coworker there that when I went to a game in Laramie in November 2005, there were tumbleweeds blowing down the streets in their downtown area. The weather might be bad and the Cowboys are looking for revenge from last year's blowout when Utah kicked an onsides kick with a 40-point lead or whatever, but it won't matter. My Prediction: Utah 27, Wyoming 10.

4. If the BCS were to end today, this is what I think the BCS would look like:

National Championship Game: Oklahoma (Big XII champ) v. Alabama (SEC champ)
Rose Bowl: USC (Pac 10 champ) v. Penn State (Big 10 champ)
Fiesta Bowl: Missouri (Big XII #2) v. Ohio State (Big 10 #2)
Sugar Bowl: LSU (SEC #2) v. Utah (non-BCS #1)
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech (ACC champ) v. Pittsburgh (Big East champ)

5. I know it is preposterous to consider BYU going to the national championship game. It just won't happen no matter what happens, and I realize this. But heck, it's okay to have fun with it. This is who I am rooting for this weekend to pave BYU's path to the title.

A. Utah over Wyoming; TCU over Colorado State. If BYU wants any prayer, they need these two teams to win every single one of their non-BYU games. The more hype for the Holy War clash on November 22, the better.

B. Southern Miss over Boise State. I'm getting a little nervous that everyone is jumping on the Boise State Bronco bandwagon with their high strength of schedule. Other than Fresno State and maybe Nevada, I don't see anybody else even potentially coming close to knocking them off. Southern Miss gets the Broncos at home in an evening game. I would like to see Boise knocked out of the entire equation as soon as possible.

C. Staying out West, it would of course be nice to see the underachieving Arizona State squad knock off USC in SoCal, but I don't think the Sun Devils will even be able to keep it close. Also, a UCLA win at Oregon would be nice, too. If either of these two results happen, I'll be happy.

D. Among the other mid-major undefeateds, I don't think either Tulsa or Ball State has enough firepower to overtake an undefeated BYU. I would like to see them continue winning to keep a national eye on the "mid-major" scene.

E. The Big XII has a few interesting games. The most notable is the Red River Rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas. I will go against my Fantasy College Football league here and root for the Longhorns. Overall, I think Oklahoma is the better team and there is a better chance that Texas could lose two other games after this one with the tougher schedule. Either way, both the Sooners and Longhorns will need two losses each when all is said and done.

Also, Oklahoma State is at Missouri. BYU needs the Tigers to have two losses, so I will be rooting for the Cowboys this weekend. It would also be nice to see Nebraska somehow knock down Texas Tech and for Colorado to beat Kansas. The more upsets, the better.

F. The SEC is also getting complicated, as the Cougars probably need everybody to have two losses to stay ahead of everyone. It would be nice to see Kentucky and Vanderbilt lose to South Carolina and Mississippi State, respectively, for the second and first losses, respectively. Did that last sentence even make sense?

The big game is Tennessee at Georgia. The Volunteers have looked horrible this year, but I still have hope they can give the Bulldogs their second loss of the year and knock them out of contention. The BIGGEST game is LSU (4-0) v. Florida (4-1). I think I'm rooting for the Gators here. LSU could stumble again with games at South Carolina and at home against Georgia. There will be other opportunities for the Urban Meyers to lose, hopefully. Alabama, meanwhile, is also undefeated but they have a bye this week.